Night, Amber
by SquaresAreOverRated
Summary: Everyday in District 3 is filled with tension. And then one day all the tension just explodes into the Reaping Ceremony. And I'm there, and I feel like I'm going to throw up. I'd probably aim at Blight if I did. I'm Nox. I don't really have any friends except Blight, and I'm pretty screwed up. But let's blame it on the Capitol.


**A/N:** And so it begins.

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Once a year, the whole nation stops breathing. The little kids wake up with nightmares, the teenagers wake up crying, and the parents wake up trying to calm each of their children down. We stop crying, but still, we keep thinking, about every way this year could go wrong. My best friend, shipped to the Capitol. My sister. My neighbor. And the worst thought, although selfish, myself. The somehow lucky one who gets to honor her district. The one who gets thrown in a crate of rabid animals to either kill or be killed.

I suppose, in some people's heads, it is honorable to go to The Hunger Games. To be some blood thirsty killer. Murdering your way to honor. The nasty Careers from Districts 1, 2, and 4 that every lower District person hates, but the Capitol loves.

Even so, I wish District 3 was a Career District. Maybe then someone would be there to volunteer for the weak kids that get Reaped. For the little twelve year old girls and boys, and the crippled tributes with broken legs, arms. My cousin told me that the boy she had a crush on for a whole two years had been reaped four years ago. He was killed in the bloodbath, like most of the District 3 tributes are. She was devastated, and now is a bit crazy. Not Capitol citizen crazy, but somewhere close.

I kicked at the dirt on the path that had blown over from the wind, scratching up the bottom of my shined black boots that my mom cleaned every night. It was silent, all you could hear was the pounding hum of electricity and metal. The whole district always sounded that way, it was just something you got used to. I peaked over the top of the block of stone that served as a barrier between the path to The Central Hub,we call it Central usually, and the District's labs. My mom worked there as as a Senior Assistant, but I didn't know exactly where my father did his job. He always brought home folders with the Capitol's seal printed on the front in brownish ink flooding with essays and reports and mathematics that I could hardly understand, even though our curriculum has been centered around it and science for the past eight years.

I raised myself up and started walking across the skinny fence of cement. I kept every step small and focused, my tongue peeking out of my mouth, only looking down when I kicked off the burnt up factory specimens lodged in the crevices of the stone. I picked up a pine cone and threw it to my right, not looking to see where it landed. My hand was pretty good.

I heard some murmering and two pairs of feet clunking against the ground. Instinctively, I turned over my shoulder to the sounds. A man in a black suit with blood red hair turned quickly and then back to a scientist dressed in a white coat punctured with the Capitol insignia. He turned one more time, his beady Capitol eyes meeting with mine, and I immediately jumped down, crashing to the pavement, breaking the fall with my now raw hands. I bounced back up and shot down the road, wiping the damaged skin from my hand on my pants, making sure to not get any blood on the white uniform t-shirt all the students had to wear to school. Of course, education is one of the top priorities in District 3, after creating new technology for the Capitol to play with.

It would only be a minute before the Capitol man would send a Peacekeeper to chase after the girl who threw a pine cone into the "secret" laboratory's gates. My mind always seems to hope for the worse. I picked up my pace, swinging my arms with quite a bit more enthusiasm than before.

I flung my body around a small patch of evergreen trees and shuffled by the edge of a factory's entrance, the knob impaling my back. Before I could let out a cry I swung around the corner and was only a couple of feet to the back door, I reached out, knocking my elbow against the frame, but it was locked tight. The door was huge; metal and thick. There was no way I was going to get in that way, and the windows looked about as escapable as a prison cell.

As my last resort, I peaked around the corner of the cement block building to a group of perfectly groomed kids standing in a line outside the front entrance. A boy standing alone almost caught eyes but I backed behind the corner quickly.

Defeated and panting from the run, I slid down the wall and relaxed my legs. No reason to go to school anyways. My eyelashes fluttered, but I heard the pounding of another pair of boots against the ground. I ripped my sleepy eyes open to an unsightly boy. He leaned over and rested all his weight on his legs. "Nox" he sputtered out.

"You're extremely sweaty and disgusting, Blight. You need to work on your hygiene." I answered without looking back at him.

"Nox!" He demanded louder with the tone of an annoying eight year old girl.

"What?" I turned my head sharply at him.

"You're going to be late for class."

"So are you." The words fell out, useless. I looked back at him and he had his arm outstretched to help me up.

I grunted my defeat and lifted my body off the ground. Before I could acquaint myself with the pain in my back legs he grabbed my wrist and pulled me to the front door.

"You look like a rabid monkey attacked your head." I unhitched his bony hand from my wrist and adjusted mine.

"Shut up." He ran his fingers through his matte of wavy brown hair that stood on his head like a lightning bolt had struck it. It always looked like a rabid monkey had attacked it.

I checked my hair with my hand, it was a little frizzy but it would look fine next to Blight's mess.

"Mr. Haight, Ms. Ambit. You're late. The mayor is not happy when children are late to classes"

"I'm sorry, Ms. Peterson. I'll have to run faster next time." I said and we shuffled into the building.

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**A/N:** Of course, this is somewhat of an introduction because well, ya, um it's a Hunger Games story and all. So please tell me if you like it, hate it, have any constructive criticism, or just a review in general. Whatever you want. Thanks, friends! (Was that too soon?)

SquaresAreOverRated


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